This gig was kindly hosted by Wendy Shone, owner of The Giffard Arms Wolverhampton. Organised and promoted by Brett Hall and Doddy White, who certainly came up trumps with this line up, which was a sure fire way to fill The Giffard. The Rockers Through The Ages Xmas Party was designed to raise money for a great cause, Compton Hospice.

Kicking off the performances were Hollowstar, a 4 piece hard-hitting dirty rock band originating from Cambridgeshire. Never seen them before, but after watching their assault of in your face rock music that certainly got the pulse racing, I will be looking out for these guys in the future, and hope to get up close and personal with a cheeky interview if at all possible.

These guys certainly put on a brilliant performance despite some technical issues as you will see on one of the videos. They took it all in their stride and their set was thoroughly enjoyed by all. The stage was well and truly warmed up in preparation for the next band on this awesome line up.

If Hollowstar tickle your fancy, why not visit/like their facebook page, or click here for twitter

After a quick change over, it was time for Naked Sunday to take the stage. I’ve been following this band for some time now, and was keen to see them, as they are always guaranteed to spice things up with their unique, dirty rock n roll performances.

Tonight, they promised some surprises, and delivered the biggest surprise which was in the form of an additional guitarist, Alex Williams on stage for two of their songs, Diamonds and Pearls and A Dozen Red Roses.

From start to finish it was clearly one of the best live performances from Naked Sunday that I have ever witnessed, and having an extra guitar on stage gave a little extra something to the performance.

It was also very clear that they themselves were having a ball up there, and that came across to the audience very well.

The below video is my favourite tune at the moment from this band, called Reaper. Martin Stanyer put everything into his performance of this, even mentioning a few of the people in the audience by name part way through.

If Naked Sunday float your boat, why not head over to their facebook or twitter pages to give them a like/follow.

Next up were Electus, a 4 piece hard rock band from Wolverhampton. Again a confident and crowd pleasing performance was unleashed on the audience. A couple of issues with equipment, but this didn’t spoil the performances at all.

My favourite video from the set is the one below. Lead guitarist Gareth Daker was awesome and I would have loved to capture more of his performance on video but unfortunately I was at the wrong side of the stage to get any decent footage of him. These guys are definitely worth a watch, and they did a fantastic job of preparing the audience for the main attraction of the night.

If you want to know more about Electus, why not follow them on facebook or twitter?

And next, the moment we had all been waiting for……. Tom, Dale and Karl of The Bad Flowers from Cannock walked calmly onto the stage and started to prepare themselves. The audience knew what was about to come, and the room was packed out. The energy in the room rose to another level in excitement and anticipation of what was about to come.

This band are well known for their thunderous rock n roll which leaves audiences astounded, and this gig was no exception, they performed their hearts out as always. The relentless attack of elaborate drumming from the talented ‘animal’, Karl Selickis, the heavy bass delivered with tonnes of attitude by Dale Tonks and the pure, powerful vocals and exceptional guitar work from Tom Leighton delivered an earth shattering experience to their fans which finished the night off perfectly.

The Bad Flowers really do capture the hearts of the audience, always performing at full throttle and with a genuine raw talent that you cannot buy. I’m in no doubt that this appearance will be one of the last ‘smaller venues’ these guys perform, as they have some fantastic shows lined up for 2018, including Steelhouse Festival.

I’m just happy that I had the privilege of seeing these guys perform at such a personal level, and I’m excited to see what’s in store for them in the coming year.

On Saturday 28th October I was at The Giffard Arms Wolverhampton to see Papa Shango and supporting bands, Dead Happy and Anonymous.

I’ve heard that The Giffard is the place to be on Halloween, and for a mere £2 to get in, this was promising to be a great night, especially knowing that Anonymous were in the line up.

A Halloween themed band called Dead Happy certainly kicked the evening off in style, demonstrating a completely abstract performance of rock/alternative music.

It was then time for one of my top 5 upcoming bands to rock the house. Anonymous put on an electrical performance as always, these guys have all the ingredients needed to become a successful rock band, looks, talent, charisma and determination.

Even though the frontman/vocalist Rob Baynes had been unwell, he put on a great show for the crowd. These guys have come a long way since I first saw them on a Facebook live feed, playing a pub in Burton-on-Trent.

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They will be supporting Ryder’s Creed at the 02Academy 3 Birmingham on 9th December 2017 which I’m sure will be a great night, and I have no doubt that Anonymous will help to kick the night off appropriately. Hayden Kirk (guitar), Steven (Herbie) Herbert (drums), Luke Lawley (bass) and Rob Baynes (vocals/guitar) certainly get the job done when it comes to putting on a show.

So, having rocked out with Anonymous, it was time for the widely talked about PapaShango to make an appearance. To be perfectly honest, I had mixed feelings about this ‘act’, but kept an open mind as I’d never seen them before. They describe themselves as a circus rock act with mayhem and madness guaranteed to leave jaws dropped.

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Unfortunately, the only video footage I took of these guys will not upload, so apologies to anyone who wanted to see them. Well I can only describe the Papa Shango experience as unusual. I thought for a moment I’d had my drink spiked when I saw girls in sequinned hotpants humping hobby horses to the rhythm of the music. It was all a bit tongue in cheek, and I watched them perform a couple more of their tracks before leaving to the sound of ‘pissing on your wife’ being belted out. The room was full of people in full Halloween costume though, and I’m sure the night went well. Not sure if they came into watch Papa Shango, or whether it was just because the disco downstairs was packed out, but either way, a great night celebrated with major weirdness and rock music, you couldn’t ask for more. (Especially not for £2 entry)